Found an old school hear me that was used from the 30s to the 70s. I looked up the property map and it's owned by the county board of education. Do I need permission to detect a place where no one goes or is it still considered public grounds? Am I shooting myself in the foot by asking permission?

Since you are asking, I guess if it was me in this situation, I'd roll up and give it a quick cursory sweep to see if its even worth the trouble.. At least then you will know whether its worth the effort, has been formerly highgraded etc.........Imagine the wasted energy expended gaining 'permission' first just to find a dry hole?...Wasted effort! Every site and situation is unique...hard to give a solid 'do this' reply...

If however, you roll up and start hitting massive old silver unopposed, virgin site with Mercs laying all over the place and Walker halfs every other swing.. If you can go there day after day without anybody saying one diddly damn, why on Earth would you then seek permission?

Or, ask permission first and get a big fat NO from some office girl and move on with your life......do whatever you feel is right...

__________________
Detecting is the study of Mankinds interaction with topography, the untrustworthiness of pockets, and metals desire to return to the Earth from whence it came.

I hunt plenty of properties owned by the local board of Ed. Never had any issues, never asked. Plenty of my taxes go for paying to keep the schools going, (plus 4 kids currently in them) doubt they could care less about an empty lot. I wouldn't hit an active school while classes were in session but once out it's fair game. About 7 years ago they bulldozed 1/2 a dozen schools in my district, some they rebuilt on, other are now just empty lots. I've hit every empty one here multiple times. Plenty of people have seen me, including LEO's. Had a few looky loos ask if I had any luck but never a complaint.

Originally Posted by Mud-puppyView post
Since you are asking, I guess if it was me in this situation, I'd roll up and give it a quick cursory sweep to see if its even worth the trouble.. At least then you will know whether its worth the effort, has been formerly highgraded etc.........Imagine the wasted energy expended gaining 'permission' first just to find a dry hole?...Wasted effort! Every site and situation is unique...hard to give a solid 'do this' reply...

If however, you roll up and start hitting massive old silver unopposed, virgin site with Mercs laying all over the place and Walker halfs every other swing.. If you can go there day after day without anybody saying one diddly damn, why on Earth would you then seek permission?

Or, ask permission first and get a big fat NO from some office girl and move on with your life......do whatever you feel is right...

Your posts are always a good read. I wish I had that vivid a vocabulary.

Originally Posted by demyansk1942View post
..... I hit a lot of schools but always on a weekend.

Why not go on a weekday ? You have something to hide ? "Sneaking around" ? And as for never having been told "no", how do you know that's because you haven't asked or seen the right person ? Hence "... you've just been lucky so far".

Tsk tsk. So now we expect you to do the responsible ethical right thing and go ask. Only THEN can you know ifor anyone cared or not. Go make us all proud.

well just an update to this post: I didn't feel comfortable with just going to the school so I called the county board of education. The lady I spoke to was friendly but informed me that the board of education only owned a small newer portion of the school and gave me the number to the office of the mayor to seek permission. I called the number and spoke with another lady whom told me I need to come to the next meeting of building contractors and land or something like that. A free meeting held the 5th of September at a local courthouse and then I would have to ask them for permission and await an answer probably by October. Once she said meeting I was beginning to tune out . Oh well I think i may have ruined this one, I just don't see why so much red tape to hunt land like this.

Originally Posted by Dflan83View post
well just an update to this post: I didn't feel comfortable with just going to the school so I called the county board of education. The lady I spoke to was friendly but informed me that the board of education only owned a small newer portion of the school and gave me the number to the office of the mayor to seek permission. I called the number and spoke with another lady whom told me I need to come to the next meeting of building contractors and land or something like that. A free meeting held the 5th of September at a local courthouse and then I would have to ask them for permission and await an answer probably by October. Once she said meeting I was beginning to tune out . Oh well I think i may have ruined this one, I just don't see why so much red tape to hunt land like this.

I don't think any of us md'rs will ever get every single city person to "roll out the red carpets" for us to detect any spot of public land.

You haven't said whether this spot has a fence around it or not . As so often schools today seem to have. With their obligatory signs that say something like "visitors check in at the office". But even if it was this ominous, I still think you're over-thinking it. I bet even those schools get used by persons walking their dog, jogging the track, etc.....

Originally Posted by Tom_in_CAView post
I don't think any of us md'rs will ever get every single city person to "roll out the red carpets" for us to detect any spot of public land.

You haven't said whether this spot has a fence around it or not . As so often schools today seem to have. With their obligatory signs that say something like "visitors check in at the office". But even if it was this ominous, I still think you're over-thinking it. I bet even those schools get used by persons walking their dog, jogging the track, etc.....

no fence around it. Just a unused old school with a newer building on it that the board of education does use. The rest goes unused. If it was not by 2 busy streets i would feel more comfortable going without permission

Originally Posted by Dflan83View post
no fence around it. Just a unused old school with a newer building on it that the board of education does use. The rest goes unused. If it was not by 2 busy streets i would feel more comfortable going without permission

If no fence and no trespassing sign I'd say you're good to go. Go late or early on weekend days when the odds of running into a nosey bureaucrat are almost non-existent.

Originally Posted by Dflan83View post
.... If it was not by 2 busy streets i would feel more comfortable going without permission

Three thoughts:

1) The above statement continues to imply that "permission is needed". If this premise is true, then everything else you're saying logically follows. But .... I don't think the premise is true. Yes someone might say "I grant you permission". Thus implying their princely say-so was needed. But so too might they say "yes you can breathe". Did that mean you needed their permission to breathe ?

2) I'm sure that md'ing at ANY turfed lawn can draw busy-body gripers (it does, admittedly, have connotations in nice manicured turf). But certain the "busy street" isn't busy 24 hrs. per day ? Eh ? I mean, can't you go 6am Saturday for awhile ? Or at night in the dark ? It's gotten to where I do most all of my park and school turf hunting at night nowadays. So peaceful. So serene.

3) You're saying that it has no fences, is public, and has no express prohibitions (ie.: a rule or sign or law that says "no md'ing"). A bunch of us would already have hit it by now. In fact, perhaps it's been worked to smithereens already by locals in your area ?

One good thing about the meth and opioid crisis here in South-West Missouri is our jails are full and it's catch and release for petty crimes like standing in an old school yard. If there is no sign or fence, why couldn't you detect, or walk your dog or fly your model plane or teach a kid how to drive in the parking lot. Schools have a long history of being used as parks. I wouldn't hesitate to hit a school with no signs. Just do it. What's the worst that can happen? Unless you're a total jerk I don't think any cop would give you more than a scram.

45 years ago I had the fishing line controlled Cox airplanes. I had one that wouldn't quit running. My Dad spun circles in the high school parking lot for 10 minutes until it finally ran out of gas. He then fell down and started doing somersaults and rolling and stumbling around trying to stand up. My sister and I were literally rolling on the ground laughing. We still joke that if a cop had seen us he would think we were all drunk. We never thought it could be trespassing.

Originally Posted by Tom_in_CAView post
So too did all the schools in my town function as defacto Parks when I was a kid. It never occurred to me then, or now, that permission was needed. Shame on us I guess.

I have found that many schools that have a fence leave a small gap for public access when school is not in session.

The city here owns several vacant lots and a few abandoned homes. None are signed, fenced, or otherwise monitored. A guy goes by and mows the grass every few weeks is the extent of city activity on these properties.

Now, I could go and ask for permission and deal with all the wannabe officials who have nothing to do with how city property is managed, or I can go and detect on what is by definition.....property owned by the public that has no signs or ordinances forbidding the use of a metal detector.

I treat them like school yards or parks. No one says anything and no one really cares.

Now if I were to go and ask....someone would suddenly care and try and wield some power over what is done on the vacant lot that no one has cared about for the last 13 years.

Government officials are strange creatures. They usually do not care until you give them an opportunity to be powerful.